Skipping Beats, Blushing Cheeks
by ox Autumn Facade xo
Summary: Ichigo finds Rukia's journal. :O .first chapter is a songfic since this was only supposed to be a oneshot.
1. Hit The Floor

Okay well this fic is pretty short, it's just kind of a happy-go-lucky sort of thing.

Oh, and I don't own Bleach or the song Goodnight And Go by Imogen Heap.

**.:Skipping Beats, Blushing Cheeks:.**

_It seems I'm really out of it lately. I don't even know why. My grades in school are slipping, I can't seem to pay attention to __anything__,I think I may actually be...__**daydreaming**_.

She shuddered as she wrote that last word.

_There's only one particular thing I want to draw lately._

She turned her head and let out a small giggle as she looked at the doodle of Ichigo in a Chappy Rabbit costume.

_God, I hate that boy._

Rukia shook her head slowly as she rubbed her temple.

_Then just why do I care so much about him?_

In that split second, it dawned on her.

She _loved _him.

Her thoughts of anger toward him fogged it all, she really never seemed to notice. She didn't even notice that every time he was injured by a hollow, her heart beat would speed up to a dangerously high level. She didn't even notice that every time a hollow appeared, she would instantly worry about him getting injured in the first place. She didn't even notice that she just happened to blush every time he would look her way. And she didn't even notice that he loved her back.

_I think...just maybe...that I love him._

She set her pencil down and closed her journal, placing it gently under her pillow as she heard Ishiin calling for them to come eat dinner. She accidently had left the sliding closet door open.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

_Skipping beats, blushing cheeks_

_I am struggling_

_Daydreaming, bed scenes in the corner cafe_

_And then I'm left in bits recovering tectonic tremblings_

_You get me every time_

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

---------------------------------------------------------------

Ichigo jogged into his room, calling to his father that he would be downstairs in a few minutes. He quickly tossed his school books and backpack onto his bed and changed out of his school uniform. Just as he was taking a drink from his water bottle, he said to himself out loud, "That's odd. Rukia must have forgotten to shut the door."

He walked over to do what she hadn't, when the corner of what looked like a book caught his eye. It was sticking out underneath Rukia's pillow.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

_Why d'ya have to be so cute?_

_It's impossible to ignore you_

_Must you make me laugh so much_

_It's bad enough we get along so well_

_Say goodnight and go_

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

He took a quick look out of his bedroom door to make sure no one was coming before he pulled the brown journal from underneath her pillow. Skipping through the unintresting looking pages, he was about to put it back when he saw the word "he" in a certain paragraph several times.

"Ichigo! Get downstairs! Time for dinner!" Ishiin shouted with one of his hands cupped vertically beside his mouth to enhance the volume of his voice.

"Comin'!" He said as he scanned through the page.

And he just about lost his balance when he read what she had last wrote.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

_One of these days, you'll miss your train and come stay with me_

_We'll have drinks and talk about things, any excuse to stay awake with you_

_You'll sleep here, I'll sleep there, but then the heating may be down again_

_at my convenience_

_We'd be good, we'd be great together_

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Ichigo marched down the wooden stairs with confidence in his strides while he had a rather large grin on his face. He snapped his wrist into a wave at his family as he sat down at the dining room table next to Rukia, and leaned over.

"I think just maybe I love you, too." He whispered, his lips just barely touching her ear.

And just then, her fork slipped from her fingers and hit the floor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So yeah. I don't know about this one, I didn't really like it but I thought hey it wouldn't hurt to post. Oh well.

Review, flame, do what you please.

Toodles.


	2. Mr Smooth Operator

Well I guess you guys wanted me to continue this, so I did. But it probably won't have that many chapters to it, since I already have a handful of stories that need some serious updating. Oh and just to clear things up, this is based off of after Rukia comes back from Soul Society to live with Ichigo, but in this fic she has to stay in the closet ...

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach, but I do own some Clorox. Or Tide. Can't remember. Maybe it was that stuff with the teddy bear on the front? Anyway, here's chapter two.

**Chapter Two.**

"Ichigo..." Rukia said quietly as she stood from her seat, gently laying her napkin on the table. "Why did you just say that?" She said almost delicately, and rather quietly. He could barely hear her.

"Well I read your journal." He replied, also standing up, and putting a hand in his pocket, the other scratching at the back of his head. "I _am _this alleged 'he', right?"

"Ichigo..." She repeated, her quivering hands quietly shaping into fists at her side (which was unnoticed by Ichigo). "And why did you do that?" She added, her voice rising only a tad.

"I dono...It was just there I guess.." He knew she was growing irritated. He was almost afraid for his own safety, considering what he expected to happen in the next few minutes.

"And so you read my deepest, innermost thoughts that were to be kept only to myself, just because it was _there?_"

"Uh...well I guess so..."

Everyone could feel the overhanging tension between the two, and it was driving him insane.

"Ichigo Kurosaki!! You are a very _dead _man!!"

"Hey, hey, keep it G-rated you two...actually I would prefer that both of you sit back down to a peaceful dinner, but I can see that isn't going to happen. So, if you must, fight somewhere out of the dining room please." Ishiin said, never even raising his head to look at them.

Rukia grabbed Ichigo's wrist and stomped out of the dining room until they reached the front door and she pushed him outside.

Ichigo raised his pointer finger rather matter-of-factly and said, "Actually, technically _you're _the dead one Rukia."

And that, only added two, maybe three more times the fuel to Rukia's growing-by-the-second anger.

"Alright, you wanna be a smart fuck? You go ahead and mess with someone else, Kurosaki, but you don't do that with me." She said, her face only inches away from his own, her shoulders raised almost above her head.

"Aww, c'mon Rukia I was only kidding. Ch-chill out." He said, backing away from the angry Kuchiki. What made him fifty times more nervous than usual was the fact that she wasn't even yelling at him. She was using a tone of voice that was low, but had an obvious and extreme anger to it.

"Yeah? Want me to chill out? You don't go fucking scavenging through another person's stuff and expect to play Mr. Smooth Operator, Ichigo!"

"Woah, woah. Rukia, settle down! I didn't go in search of pissing you off, okay!?" He said, taking a deep breath. "Just answer me this. Is it me? Were you writing about me?"

"Who knows." She said, turning her back to him and crossing her arms. He noticed the setting sun was shining along her raven black hair.

"Wh-what do you mean!? Rukia!"

"You heard me. And you know very well what it means."

"Come on, you can't do this to me!" He said desperately, his hands extended out in front of him.

"I can do whatever I please, Ichigo." She said, taking strides down the sidewalk.

"Well, where are you going!?"

"Who knows."

"Rukia Kuchiki, don't you walk away from me!"

Rukia turned her head around as she was quickly pacing her way down the sidewalk.

"I can walk away from whomever I want to, Ichigo Kurosaki!"

Ichigo began to jog after her, which caused Rukia to begin running.

"Kuchiki!!"

"Go away, Ichigo!"

"There's no chance in hell!" He called after her.

Soon enough he was catching up to her, since he had much longer legs than his senior, he was able to do so with much ease.

"Are you deaf!? I said go away!" She said as she stopped running to whirl around, facing him.

"Yeah? And since when I have I done a single thing you told me to do, huh? You're not getting away from me again. You were nearly killed last time."

"I can take care of myself." She muttered, turning away from him.

He grabbed both of her shoulders, turning her around to face him.

"Yeah. I know you can." He whispered hoarsely before she crumbled in his arms and his lips clashed with hers.

"Rukia," He said staring into her eyes. "Do you love me?"

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

There's chapter two. I guess that means I _have _to add more chapters since this one is a cliffy.

Please review!


	3. We Can't Have Everything

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach.

**Chapter Three.**

"Ichigo..." She whispered as she let go of him and turned away.

The world felt a little more complicated just after he had asked that seemingly simple question.

"Do you? Do you love me, Rukia?"

Again, a little bit more.

"Ichigo, it isn't that simple." She again whispered.

"Sure it is. You just have to say yes." He said with a smile.

"You just don't get it..."

"What is there to get? You say yes, and boom, happily ever after here we come." He exclaimed and continued to smiled.

"For one thing, I'm just about one hundred years older than you,"

"Rukia, that doesn't matter--"

"And for _another_," She cut in, "I'm a Shinigami, and you're a human." She had said rather sharply, to get that to stay in his head.

"So? I'm _sort _of a Shinigami. What's that matter anyway?"

"It's forbidden.Technically you aren't really a Shinigami, Ichigo...And I can't honestly say that a lot of people in Soul Society have a good opinion on you..."

"Who cares what they think?" He huffed, crossing his arms. "Since when do you give a shit?"

"Since I've broken the rules and disgraced my family."

"So, what you're meaning to say is...you don't love me?"

"I never said that..."

"You--"

"And I never said that I did, either."

He sighed, placing both of his hands in his pockets and looked up at the sky. There was a few long minutes of silence exchanged between the two, and Ichigo half expected Rukia to take off running while she had the chance. He honestly didn't feel like running after her. And for once in his life, he didn't feel like fighting for what he wanted, what he needed. His gut was telling him to fight, but his head was telling him to walk away.

But what then?

What if he did walk away? He had never once given up, so why start now, when it comes to fighting for someone he loved?

Then again, Rukia was being stubborn as ever. It's not like he could make her love him. He wasn't even sure if he was the one she had been writing about in her journal.

"Rukia..." He sighed again. "I can't just walk away from you. Sorry if it's not what you want, but I'm not letting you go without a fight. Giving up was never my thing."

"Who ever said it wasn't what I wanted?" She whispered under her breath.

He knew he heard wrong. He must have heard wrong. She had been avoiding his question all night, why would she suddenly admit it now?

"What?" He questioned.

"Hmm?"

He shook his head, "What did you just say?"

"You have no idea what I want, Ichigo, so don't go thinking you have a clue--"

"I didn't say I knew what you wanted. I said _I _knew what_ I _wanted, and _I_ want _you_."

"We can't have everything..." She mumbled.

"Rukia, could you stop being so stubborn!? I've been standing here, literally pouring out my feelings, and all you have to say is 'we can't have everything'!?" He exclaimed desperately as he turned around and fingered through his orange locks. "The least you could do is answer my question!"

She turned around and began walking away back to their house and Ichigo quickly followed after her. He firmly gripped her shoulders and stared directly into her violet shaded eyes.

"Tell me. You have no idea how bad I need to know."

She stared back up at him, and her shoulders sank at her sides. "I do."

XoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoX

Well...I think that might be the end. I don't know, tell me whatcha think.

Review!


End file.
